Jetter for beverage packaging apparatus



Oct. 22, 1940. HOPKINS 2,218,911

JETTER FOR BEVERAGE PACKAGING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 19, 1937 TURRET fi M l 4 6O 7 72 //////////////A 32 INVENTCR Arrhur G. Hopkins A ATTORNEYS Patented Oct.22, 1940 r umraosrATEs PATENT OFFICE Arthur G. Hopkins, Maspeth, N. Y., assigno'r to v McKeesport Tin Plate Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Application January 19, 1937, Serial No. 121,283 9 Claims. (01. 226-69) This invention relates to beverage packaging Fig. 1 is a plan view showing a preferred form apparatus? and more particularly to a jetter of jetter applied to an accelerating turret; therefor. Fig. 2 is a section taken in elevation in the The object of the invention is to generally implane of the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; v

prove the method and apparatus for packaging Fig. 31s a schematic plan view of beer canning 5 beverages, and more especially for canning beer. apparatus embodying my invention.

Inasmuch as any container such as a can can- Referring to the drawing, and more particunot be filled perfectly full before closing and larly to Fig. 3, the empty beer cans are filled by sealing the same, there is entrapped in the packa suitable beer filler [2. This filler may be of age a quantity of air which may be as high as I standard type, and ordinarily is rather large in 10 fifteen cubic centimeters per can. The oxygen diameter and comprises a large number of can of this air tends to react with the beer, and in pockets so that the cans may be filled comparethe course of storage eventually induces variatively slowly with beer in a quiescent state in tions in flavor as well as veiling and shooting. order to prevent undesired foaming thereof. The

The inclusion of'air in the packaged beer leads to filled cans of beer are taken from filler i2 by an 15 the following faults and difliculties: (1) off taste, accelerating turret I4 which smoothly acceler- (2) poor foam qualities, (3) poor gas retention, ates the cans from the relatively low speed of (4) lack of distinctive aroma, (5) instability, and filler I2 to the comparatively high speed of a (6) wildness. To help eliminate these 'difiicover-carrier turret l6 which immediatley preculties, it has been attempted to incorporate codes a can-seaming turret Hi. The accelerat- 20 chemicals with thebeer, but this introduces other ing turret I4 is preferably of the type described disadvantages fully as seriousas the faults sought in my co-pending application Serial Number to be cured. 121,284 previously referred to. Cover carrier It In accordance with a feature and object of my is supplied with can ends and applies a can end to '86 invention, the air in the top or head space of each of the filled cans supplied to it by-the acthe can is jetted out with carbon dioxide gas. celerating turret. The turret i6 is preferably of The gasis heavy and displaces the air upwardly. the type described in my patent No. 2,032,481, More preferably, the'jet of carbon dioxide gas issued March 3, 1936, and entitled Seaming is discharged beneath the surface of the beer, machine. As is there described, the can end is 80 thus causing immediate agitation and bubbling preferably applied to thecan as soon as possible, and foaming of the beer, which itself displaces preferably slightly ahead of center-to-center and eliminates the air from the head space. The relation of the turrets l4 and I6, and is held down air is thus eliminated by the combined action of tightly on the can during transfer of the covered bubbles of injected carbon dioxide, and natural can to ,the seaming turret, where the end is $5 beer foam. When the air is eliminated or miniseamed to the can body. mized by this method, the product is of excellent In accordance with the present invention. the quality because the only ingredient added to the apparatus is provided with a jetter generally beer, the carbon dioxide, is itself a preservative designated 20, thesaidjetter beinglocated in of benefit to the beer, instead of being a chemithe path of travel of the cans in the accelerating (0 cal adulterant. turret i4 and immediately preceding the cover- 40 Another and more specific object of the invencarrier turret l6. Jetter 20 is supplied with tion resides in the application of a jetter as above bon dioxide gas from a suitable source 22 through des d to canning pp espe yto' a preferably flexible pipe .24. The filler and aeaccelel'ating turret Such 85 is c bed in my 6 celerator are designed to minimize and discourage pending application Serial Number 121,284, filed foaming of the beer. The jetter 2Q purposely 45 uary 7, nt d A l ating dev e. agitates and foams the beer, but this takes place To the ac p n Of the foregoing a d just before the can is covered by the can end, other more particularized objects which will and the interval of time therebetween is made hereinafter appear,- my invention consists in the adequate for displacement of air from the head beverage-packaging and' jetter elements and space of the can, but insufflcient to result in over- 50 their relation to one another, as hereinafter are flow of beer from the can. more particularly described in the specification The jetter 20 may be described in greater deand sought to be defined in the claims. The tail with reference to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawspecification -is accompanied by a drawing in ing. The series of cans'being moved by the acwhich: celerating turret from the filler to the cover- 5 carrier is partially indicated in Fig. 1 by the cans 28 and 28. These cans move along a suitable arcuate can track and. are guided against outward movement away from the accelerating fingers 88 and 82 by an appropriate guide rail 34.

The :letter comprises a nozzle 88 connected through appropriate pipe fittings to a valve 88 f and thence to a supply .pipe leading into the 'valve, a fragment of the pipe being indicated at 48. At least a part of the pipe 48 is made of rubber tubing, thus accommodating the up and down movement of the nozzle and valve.

Valve 38 is fixedly mounted on the horizontal arm 42 of an angle bracket, the vertical arm 44 of which is secured to a vertically reciprocable rack 46. Bracket 44 and rack 46 are connected by screws 48, and these are preferably received in slots 68, thus affording vertical adjustment of the bracket with respect to the rack, which in turn determines the depth of immersion of the nozzle 36 when in lowermost position.

Rack 46 meshes with a gear 52 which is secured directly to a smaller gear 54, and the latter meshes with a vertically reciprocable rack 56, the lower end of which is provided with a cam follower roller 58. Roller 58 cooperates with a cam surface 68, and when the cam rises as shown in Fig. 2, the rack 56 is elevated, thereby turning the gears counterclockwise and so depressing the rack 46 and with it the nozzle 36. In Fig. 2 the nozzle is shown in lowered position and the tip of the nozzle is immersed in the beer.

Valve 88 is normally closed. but is opened by upward pressure on a pin 62 projecting from the bottom of the valve. Appropriate means, here exemplified by threaded stud 64, is provided to cooperate with valve plunger 62. Specifically, stud 64 is threadedly received in stationary support plate 66, and is adjusted to bring its upper end in such position that when the valve is depressed the valve plunger 62 strikes the upper end of the stud, thus elevating the same and opening the valve. The adjustment of stud 64 is locked by lock nut 68. To prevent excessive wear at the upper end of the stud, the stud may be counterbored and filled with a special hardened plug 18.

Cam 68 may be a continuous ring rotatable with the turret and provided with cam rises disposed at the same spacing as the cans when the latter pass beneath the jetter. In the present case, however, I employ a series of small cam surfaces, one of which is located on each of the accelerating fingers. As is more fully described in my co-pending application Serial Number 121,284 aforesaid, the present accelerating turret comprises a disc 12 rotating at uniform velocity.

and carrying a series of accelerating fingers such as the fingers 38 and 32 indicated in Fig. 1. A fragment of still another accelerating finger is indicated at I4. These fingers are pivotally mounted on disc 12 as is indicated at 16. Each finger is provided with a cam follower, not shown, which cooperates with a stationary cam groove to cause oscillation of the fingers relative to the turret, thus producing the desired acceleration of the cans.- With the invention. as here disclosed, each of the accelerating fingers carries a camming surface 68 designed to cooperate with the cam follower 58 of the jetter. As will be clear from inspection of Figs. 1 and 2, the cam 68 on one finger, for example the finger 32, depresses the jetter nozzle into a can moved by the preceding finger, in this case the finger 88. Similarly, when can 28 reaches the p sition now ing desirable because when a series of short discrete cams are employed, as when the cams are mounted on separate fingers, it is necessary to positively limit the downward movement of the cam follower between successive fingers. This in turn requires that the cams produce an upward movement, of the cam follower. The gearand rack arrangement illustrated is also more compact and localized than would be a simple pivoted lever arrangement designed to produce the same relative movement. However, I have designed jetters of this nature using a lever movement rather than a gear and rack arrangement.

The gears 52 and 54 are housed within a housing 18, the base 88 of which is-mounted on support plate 66 by means of screws 82. Housing 18 is separable on the line 84, thus providing access to the gears therewithin. Rack 56 is guided within housing '18 and rack 46 is guided in special ways 86 formed integrally with the housing. The downward movement of cam follower 58 is limited by reason of a top block 88 which directly llmlts the upward movement of rack 46 and so indirectly limits the downward movement of rack 56 which is geared thereto. A small helical spring 88 located beneath the bottom of rack 46 cushions the movement of the rack near its lowermost position.

It will be understood that the rise of cam 68 is limited in time to an amount which will insure that the downward movement of the jetter nozzle 86 takes place safely within the walls of can 26. In other words, the nozzle is not moved downwardly until the leading edge of the can has passed the nozzle, and conversely, the nozzle is elevated well out of the can before the trailing edge of the can reaches the nozzle. The immersion of the nozzle into the beer is therefore but momentary, and the Jet discharge of carbon dioxide gas into the beer is also but momentary in duration. Nevertheless, the physical agitation of the beer together with the carbon dioxide actually injected therein cause prompt bubbling and foaming of the beer with consequent disdescription thereof. The method is simple and almost instantaneous. It is economical in its use of gas, for the actual discharge of gas is only momentary. The apparatus is compact, inexpensive, and may be added to the regular packaging apparatus without requiring the use of a special track'or turret, and without enlarging or rebuilding existing equipment. The device may Ill) mechanism including means to momentarily disbe added as an accessory,yet operates emciently,

dependably and effectively to accomplish the dethe spirit of the invention defined in the following claims. 4

I claim:

' 1. Apparatus for the packagingof beer in containers, said apparatus comprising a beverage filler, and accelerating turret for taking filled containers from the filler and accelerating the same, a gas discharge nozzle disposed above the path of movement of said containers, a valve for controlling the discharge of gas from said nozzle, means to lower the nozzle as a filled container moved by the accelerating turret comes therebeneath and to elevate the same preparatory to movement of another container therebeneath, said last named means producing a downward movement of the nozzle which is adequate to bring the gas discharging tip of the nozzle beneath the surface of the beer in the container, and means cooperating with the valve to open the valve when the nozzle is immersed in the beer as aforesaid.

2. Apparatus for packaging a beverage in containers, said apparatus comprising a beverage filler, an accelerating turret for taking filled containers from the filler and accelerating the same, a gas discharge jetting nozzle reciprocably mounted for movement into and out of the containers as they are moved by the accelerating turret, and cam means rotatable with the turret for lowering the nozzle into each of the containers.

3. Apparatus for packaging a beverage in conthe accelerating turret, a valve associated with said nozzle in order to momentarily supply gas thereto when the nozzle is in lowered position, and cam means rotatable with the turret for lowering the nozzle into each of the containers.

4. Apparatus for packaging beer in containers, said apparatus comprising a beer filler, an accelerating turret for taking filled containers of beer from the filler and accelerating the same, a. nozzle reciprocably mounted for movement into and out of the containers as they are moved by the accelerating turret, a-valve associated with said nozzle in order to momentarily supply gas thereto when the nozzle is in depressed position, and cam means rotatable with the turret for depressing the nozzle into each of the containers, said cam means having a substantial displacement so selected and related to the other parts of the apparatus as to cause a movement of the A nozzle sufiicient to immerse the nozzle in the beer.

5. Apparatus for canning ,a readily foaming beverage, said apparatus comprising a filler, an accelerating turret including a plurality of can accelerating fingers projecting outwardly therefrom, a can-seaming turret, a cover-carrier turret arranged to apply can ends to the filled cans leaving the accelerating turret and to transfer the same to the seaming turret, and jetting mechanism to remove air from the top of the can before applying the ,can' end thereto, said charge a jet of carbon dioxide gas at a point located beneath the surface of the beverage in each can immediately preceding the cover-carrier turret. t

6. Apparatus for canning a beverage, said apparatus comprising a filler, .an accelerating turret including a plurality of can accelerating fingers "projecting outwardly therefrom, a canseaming turret, a cover-carrier turret arranged to apply can ends to the filled cans leaving the accelerating turret and to transfer the same to the seaming turret, and jetting mechanism to remove air from the top of the can before'applying the end thereto, said mechanism'including a vertically reciprocable nozzle disposed over the path of movement of the accelerating fingers of the accelerating turret at a point immediately preceding the coyer-carrier turret, a cam mounted on each of the aforesaid accelerating fingers, and

mechanism whereby said cam functions to lower the nozzle into each can as the can passes the nozzle.

.7. Apparatus for canning a readily foaming beverage, said apparatus comprising a filler, an accelerating turret including a plurality of can accelerating fingers projecting outwardly therefrom, a can-seaming turret, a cover-carrier turret arranged to apply can ends to the filled cans leaving the accelerating turret and to transfer the same to the seaming turret, and jetting mechanism to remove air from the top of the can before applying the can end thereto, said mechanism including a vertically reciprocable nozzle disposed over the path of movement of the accelerating fingers of the accelerating turret at a point immediately preceding the covercarrier turret, a cam mounted on each ofthe aforesaid accelerating fingers, and mechanism whereby said cam functions to lower the nozzle into each can as the can passes the nozzle, the throw of the cam being substantial and being so selected and related to the other parts of the apparatus that downward movement of the nozzle is sufiicient to immerse the tip of the nozzle in the beverage.

8. Apparatus for canning a beverage, said apparatus comprising a filler, an accelerating turret including a plurality of can accelerating fingers projecting outwardly therefrom, a canseaming turret, a'cover-carrier turret arranged to apply can ends to the filled cans leaving the accelerating turret and to transfer the same to the seaming, turret, and jetting mechanism to remove air from the top of the can before applying the can end thereto, said mechanism including a vertically reciprocable nozzle disposed over the path of movement of the accelerating fingers of the accelerating turret at a point immediately preceding the cover-.carrier turret, a valve associated with said nozzle for controlling the supply of gas thereto, means cooperating with the valve for momentarily opening the valve when the nozzle is lowered, a cam mounted on each of the aforesaid accelerating fingers, and mechanism whereby said cam functions to lower the nozzle into each can as the can passes the nozzle.

9. Apparatus for canning beer or like beverage, said apparatus comprising a filler, an accelerating turret, a can-seaming turret, a covercarrier turret arranged to apply can ends to the filled cans leaving the accelerating turret and to transfer the same to the seaming turret, and jetting mechanism to foam the beer and remove air from the head space of the can before applyamm mt sumcient to dim the cans when the nozv ing avertically reciprocable jetting nozzle to -zle is eleyated, and to immerse the nomle bemomentarily discharge a jet of carbon dioxide low the surface oi. the beer when the male is gas below the surface or the beer in'eaeh can lowered. immediately preceding the cover-carrier turret;

AR'IHUR G. norms. a and means to reciprocate said jetting nozzle an I 

